Deep South dishes meet NW cuisine at the site of a popular former Richland restaurant
A pair of Tri-Cities restaurant veterans are fusing Northwest cuisine and flavors of the South in a familiar setting.
Maigh and Will Willingham opened Public House 255 this month in the former Fat Olives Restaurant in Richland. Their restaurant takes its name from the physical address, 255 Williams Blvd.
Maigh Willingham is general manager. Will Willingham is the chef.
Will Willingham credits Greg Markel, a Tri-Cities real estate investor, with recruiting them to launch a business after the popular eatery Fat Olives closed in October after 15 years.
Markel bought the property from the Nolan family who operated the former restaurant.
Fresh touches
Willingham said the building didn’t require much work to open. Public House added new signs, a new staff and a fresh menu.
To personalize the gray space, the couple hired a design firm that added bold, modern art in the form of splashes of orange. New lighting and a couple of televisions completed the makeover.
Much of the old restaurant remains, including the dining room layout and kitchen. The Willinghams bought the furnishings and kitchen equipment already in the building.
Steelhead and grits
The menu offers a sharper contrast to its predecessors, blending options like Northwest staples such as steelhead trout with Southern favorites such as grits.
Will hails from the Northwest, with roots in Portland, Seattle and Pendleton. Maigh is from Charleston, S.C., and her background factors heavily in the menu.
The Willinghams bring a mix of corporate and local restaurant experience to the endeavor. They even briefly operated a restaurant on Columbia Drive in Kennewick in 2010, closing it when the location didn’t work out.
As they struck out on their own, they borrowed from their history of playing with ingredients to create updated versions of old standards.
Appetizers include tots made not with potatoes but with deep-friend cheesy grits and served with a spicy chipotle dip. Pimento cheese sliders feature house-made pimento cheese — Maigh’s personal recipe.
Their poutine smothers house fries in a bleu cheese peppercorn cream sauce.
Pimento cheese returns on the salad menu, playing a starring role in their version of a Caesar. There’s a steak salad for meat eaters and a garbanzo salad for vegan/gluten-free customers.
The Southern touches extend to the burger and sandwich choices. There’s a Southern French dip with collard green bruschetta served on a toasted baguette with sliced prime rib, Swiss cheese and beef au jus.
House specialties include shrimp and grits poutine, fish and chips, steelhead, seared duck and a keto bowl.
Pickle pizza anyone?
Public House 255 wasn’t going to serve pizza, but the kitchen came with a pizza oven so they pivoted to include it.
The pizza lineup includes standard pepperoni/meat and veggie pies, and nonstandards as well. There is a white clam pizza, pad thai, street taco and dill — the latter featuring a dill bechamel sauce topped with cheese and slices of dill pickles.
The pickle pizza has been popular since the restaurant highlighted it on social media.
The Willinghams both bring deep backgrounds in the restaurant industry to their venture.
Willingham got his start in the restaurant business as a server at Red Robin Gourmet Hamburgers in Kennewick. He worked his way up the ranks and became a corporate trainer.
He pivoted from chains to a series of local gigs, working as a chef at Ice Harbor Brewery, Bookwalter Winery’s Non-Fiction food truck and helped open its Fable Wine Saloon in 2023.
He’s worked at the Lodge at Columbia Point, Cousins in Pasco and Cedars at Pier One on Clover Island in Kennewick.
He said they felt comfortable with their experience and the business and hospitality expertise they built over their careers.
After helping others succeed, he said, it is time for them to build their own brand.
Public House 255 will offer live music and plans to host dinners in partnership with local breweries, wineries and distilleries to arrange dinners. It is developing a happy hour program as well.
Business hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday to Saturday.
Follow Public House 255 on Facebook or Instagram
This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 5:00 AM.